


Scarlet Hearts

by AVirtoMusae



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - gangs and politics, Family, Happy Ending, M/M, Modern AU, Renly getting over his family, Revenge, The Baratheons aren't a good family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-22
Updated: 2015-05-22
Packaged: 2018-03-31 18:37:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3988516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AVirtoMusae/pseuds/AVirtoMusae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After experiencing years of abuse and neglect at the hands of his two older brothers, Renly has made plans to take down both them and the Lannisters. But can the past really let him go so easily?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scarlet Hearts

[ ](http://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjgwLjAwMDAwMC5VMk5oY214bGRDQklaV0Z5ZEhNLC4w/all-cracked-out.regular.png)

_“And I know that if you were to save the world_

_You know it's not a day for heroes_

_You just sit there with your empty eyes_

_And if we were to save the day_

_We know it's not our victory, no_

_We'll just sit here with our golden smiles_

_And scarlet heart, and scarlet heart”_

_~~ Delain, “Scarlet”, The Human Contradiction_

 

Renly only looked up from his phone when Robert finally put down his drink long enough to even say a word. Even then, Renly wondered if it were even worth interrupting his very important work to speak -- could Robert ignore his liquor long enough to listen carefully to what he had to say? Did it even matter anymore if he didn’t?

Renly sighed and ran a hand through his coal-black hair. Standing up, he pocketed his phone. “Brother,” he whispered, holding his breath to ensure that none of the bitterness and years of pent-up anger shined through.  _Brother_ was a term akin to “bogeyman” or “devil” or “Stranger’s wife.” Renly did not like his brothers. Perhaps that was why he could scarcely keep the smirk from his face.

It was only after a deep breath, which he slowly released in something like a quiet hiss, that he found himself able to continue. “The Storm’s End gang has sent you a message.” Renly swallowed, knowing that he now would have his brother’s full attention. This was what Renly had been waiting for for years. It didn’t seem real now that it was happening.

Robert took a swig of his liquor, and Renly was half-ready to take it from him. This was Renly’s moment, and he did not want the liquor to interfere. Robert caught his gaze, but instead of setting it aside, he offered it to Renly. Renly just shook his head and waited for his brother to acknowledge the news he bore.

“What is their message?” Robert asked as the bottom of his bottle hit the oak table with a loud bang. Renly winced before forcing himself to meet his brother’s eyes again.

A trace of a smirk did grace Renly’s face then, but Robert did not seem to notice or care -- just as he always had when it came to his youngest brother.

“They say that you have two days,” Renly said, purposefully trying to extend the tension, extend Robert’s waiting. Renly wondered if Robert would still have keen enough a wit to realize the truth of the threat. That thought made his mouth taste bad. As much as recognition could harm his purpose, it still hurt that his brothers both thought him a pampered child incapable of anything real.

“Until what?!” Robert demanded, his voice little more than an irate growl. He stood up, his cheeks red. Renly tried not to think of how once he would have trembled and shrunk in on himself when faced with his brother’s wrath or irritation. Now, now it only spurred him on.

“You have two days to get rid of the Lannisters, or their fall shall be yours as well,” Renly told him. Usually, his eyes swam with mirth or a kind gravity. It was rare that there was steel and fire in them, but today was a day for rarities. It was a day of turning points and revenge. Fire and steel was not a weakness today.

“Can you hear yourself, Renly?” Robert blustered, his tone somewhere between scolding and scorn. Renly’s eye twitched, and he clenched his fists. Today he needn’t lose his temper, he told himself, for today he would overcome. “Do something! I need the Lannisters! I need their money!”

Renly nodded, affecting the mask and soul of courtesy that so often possessed him. He swallowed and rose to his feet. “Of course I’ll do what I can,” Renly agreed with a nod, as if he weren’t the one responsible for all of this. He could not wait to see his brother’s face when he told him that the gang that had made his life such a misery was his own, that he was not the faithful, naive boy that he so thought him.

“Well, good,” Robert said as though that were the answer that he had expected. Renly flashed his elder brother a smile as he walked towards the door.

He opened the door, but just before stepping through, he said, “You might want to consider the offer, you know.” It was a harmless statement, but his brother’s cheeks grew ruddier with every second.

“What would you know, Renly?! How could you know what I should do?! You’re not the fucking PM of Westeros City, are you? You’re just a little boy who doesn’t know where to stick his cock!” Robert said, bellowing the words for all of the employees of the Red Keep building of the King’s Landing sector to hear.

Renly flinched, unable to help himself despite years of not really giving a shit about what his brothers thought of him. Perhaps it was just residual pain from wounds he had thought long-since healed. “Goodbye, Robert.” He hesitated for a second still, not leaving the room. He ran a hand through his hair.

The phone in his pocket buzzed, and Renly took it out to check it even though he knew that would only serve to further enrage his brother. A slight smile slipped over his visage as he read the incoming text.

_From: Loras_

_Good luck, babe_

_Received at 18:42_

Struck by a current of inspiration, he said, “I’d wish you luck, but that would be rather counterproductive.” He nearly had shut the door and walked away before Robert pulled him back. He was not prepared for the slap that landed on his face or the way Robert held his arms hard enough to bruise.

“How fucking dare you!” Robert seemed to have lost any semblance of control over his temper that he had had only moments previous. “How the fuck could you go on, undermining my power for three fucking years?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!” He seemed to regain himself for a moment before continuing, “It’s all that fucking twink of yours’s fault, isn’t it?!”

If Renly had been able, he would have punched Robert for that. Yes, he thought, his revenge really would taste sweet. He wondered why he had ever thought of sparing this brother. It was a miracle, an honest-to-gods-thank-the-fucking-Warrior miracle, but Renly managed to text one word to Loras:

_HELP_

Renly didn’t hear Robert as he continued railing on. He didn’t even fully register it when he was shoved onto the floor and kicked in the stomach. Instead, the blood pounded in his ears, and though he had never been devout, he prayed to the Seven for Loras to get there quickly.

He couldn’t have said how long it took. Time was meaningless when is such pain, but he knew that the bones of his ribcage would be bruised for weeks, and he was coughing up blood onto the scarlet carpeting. But Loras came before Robert could murder him or do any other further damage, and for that he was grateful.

He felt Loras pull him to his feet, but Renly could only groan in pain. Renly couldn’t remember how Loras got them out without getting both of them killed or the ride home. But he did, so after a long drive, through which he sobbed. He wiped his eyes before letting himself be pulled inside even though he was barely lucid.

Renly finally found it in himself to the staff parlour a few hours later. He ached all over, and his hands had been shaky enough that it had taken Loras’s help to apply enough make-up to disguise the bruises. Loras had even had to do Renly’s eyeliner -- and Renly took pride in how well he did his own eyeliner.

It was on Loras’s arm that he stumbled to the parlour. A ghost of a smile crossed his lips as he saw that the entirety of the upper levels of the Storm’s End crew was there. This was his brothers’ worst nightmare, and that made the smile form fully despite the fact that he did not want the world to see his agony.

Renly sat down on one of the worn black sofas between his lover and his tattooed niece, Mya. “A drink?” She offered, and Renly hastily accepted. Tonight was a night for drinking, for forgetting the evils of the world and the bruises throbbing in his flesh. Tonight was a night for joy, for looking into what the future could bring with the Lannisters publicly humiliated and put out of the picture.

“Two days,” he whispered, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. The sentiment was echoed by the others through the clinking of their glasses. The music from the club proper echoed up into the lounge, and Renly found himself humming along.

Sitting between these people, he was home. Home was not with his brothers; it was here among these people who cared about him, Renly, and his well-being. But perhaps it was the realization that there would only be two days before his brother’s and the Lannisters’ downfall that made him so giddy, for he soon found himself chatting and laughing with his friends.

 _Two days_ , he reminded himself. It was hard to believe that this, now, was the culmination of years of planning and preparation. He nodded to himself. Tonight, he would party, but tomorrow, his real work would begin.

♠ ♠ ♠

Robert nursed his black eye in his room (he and his _beloved_ wife had not shared quarters for years), his temper still blazing. After that faggot had prevented him from giving his kid brother his due, he’d punched his desk hard enough to crack its once-glossy surface.

_How could that boy betray him so badly?! Even after he had given him power and a job and even a home (not that he had ever lived there, he noted sourly)?! As if announcing he was a faggot weren’t enough!_

Robert had won his Prime Ministership with blood and the schemes of the Lannisters and the force of his friends. He’d be damned if he let it all be ruined by some brother he didn’t even like. He growled and stood, preparing to call one of his favored hitmen in order to remove his brother. A part of him knew that taking out his brother should be painful, should be shameful, but it wasn’t.

He threw the phone against the wall and growled beneath his breath. Fuck the hitman and fuck everyone who said all he was good for was drinking and whoring! Je stood, a smirk twisting the snakes that he called his lips.

He glanced around the bedroom, searching for the weapon of his youth. He found his piece -- a rather ostentatious machine gun -- lying against the wall, and he picked it up, testing its weight in his hand.

 _Yes_ , he thought, _this would do rather nicely to take out his dearest brother._

♠ ♠ ♠

The pain was a dull ache by the time two days rolled around, Renly found, and every bit of the emotional agony has melted into smugness. He sighed, the smirk remaining on his face even as a thousand thoughts flitted into his mind. They had disowned him once for liking men after Robert had walked in on him and some boy, so he had gotten back by staying at Rhaegar and Lyanna’s house off past the eastern side of town. That had brought satisfaction then. The gritted teeth of Stannis and the blustering rage of Robert and the scorn of the Lannisters had seemed worth it because he had made them feel as rotten as they had every single day.

That was nothing compared to this. This would be his final victory over them. The smirk on his face was unavoidable even on his usually charming countenance. Seeing his and the rest of Storm’s End’s plans going so well coiled excitement in his stomach.

He looked behind himself to where Loras kneaded his shoulders. “You okay?” his lover asked, leaning in to nip at his earlobe. Renly shivered, closing his eyes and tilting his head back, and with that touch, he found himself less preoccupied in his victory.

“I’ll be alright, luv. It’s just difficult to believe that all our hard work is finally being rewarded,” he replied and turned around to pull Loras into a kiss, his hands weaved in between Loras’s tousled curls. It hadn’t been meant to be more than one kiss, but with Loras, Renly didn’t know that kind of control, didn’t know how to keep himself wanting to have more -- a feeling that seemed more than reciprocated.

He licked Loras’s lower lips, begging the younger man for leave to enter. His wish soon granted, his tongue was allowed to explore his boyfriend’s mouth. Loras moaned, a long, breathy sound, into Renly’s mouth. Renly shut his eyes as his boyfriend licked his tongue, and then it was his turn to moan. He had see his plans through in person, he knew, but with every second, it became increasingly difficult to understand why he was supposed to be doing anything other than having his cock in Loras’s deliciously tight arse. He tried to pull back, already panting rather heavily, but Loras nipped his lower lips, sucking it into his mouth. It was only with the utmost reluctance that Renly finally pulled away.

When he did, both needed a second to catch their breath. When they had Loras leaned in close to him, his lips brushing the shell of his ear, and purred, “Are you sure you don’t want me to reward all of your hard work right here and now?”

Renly moaned but was forced to shake his head. He pressed a finger to Loras’s nose. “Besides, I thought we were planning on going to my _official job_ and watching the Lannisters fall first hand.” He smiled at Loras, whom he saw was still pouting, and snatched his hand. “Now come on. We’ll be in my office. _Very alone_.” Renly smirked as he saw the corners of Loras’s mouth get tugged up by a smile even as he bit his lips to keep his pout. He turned his head slightly so that it was now his lips that were on his lover’s ear and not vice versa. “You could even suck me off or give me a hand job while I’m on the phone, but I might not be able to manage any coherent sentences.”

He smirked as he saw Loras’s pupils dilate even further. “Let’s go to your office right now,” Loras suggested, a glint in his very dark eyes.

♠ ♠ ♠

Loras would not let him go back on his promise, and though it would no doubt cause him major embarrassment later, he had no intentions of doing so either. And thus, as he listed to Petyr Baelish, a profiteer from all the constant gang wars and in-fights, drone on about the “disaster” of all these incriminating facts about the Lannisters being leaked and the people rallying for an election, Renly’s eyes were half shut and he had to bit both his lips together to hold back a rather loud moan.

“Renly?” Baelish asked, and even through his infinite arousal, Renly could hear the man’s smirk.

Loras chose that moment to trail his tongue down the length of Renly’s cock to his balls. Renly shuddered, and managed to stutter, “Y-y-yes.” To his mortification, his voice was half a moan, though he supposed he should have counted himself lucky to have even managed that much. Baelish laughed anyway.

Loras chose that moment to wrap his mouth around his cock, and while he had been able to keep from making too much noise when it had just been tongue, the warm heat of Loras’s mouth made it impossible to keep his breathing even mildly even, and he knew it would not be long before he didn’t even have the presence of mind to restrain his moans. Renly thrust up into his boyfriend’s mouth, and Loras moved a hand to his hip to keep him in place. As Loras’s tongue flicked his hood, he did let out a rather long moan.

It was definitely past time to hang up the phone, he decided, and he did that rather hastily and with trembling hands. It was not long before he lost himself to the pleasure, biting his lips to try to keep his voice down. With one hand he gripped the edge of the chair and with the other, he pulled at Loras’s perfect hair. Not long later, he was coming with a shudder, his eyes screwed shut in ecstasy. Loras swallowed, though some cum dripped from his mouth and back onto Renly’s cock. With a smirk, he pulled Renly’s pants and trousers back up without wiping his cock. Loras smirked at Renly.

“So how was your phonecall?” Loras asked, standing up just to sit back down on Renly’s lap. He rested his head on Renly’s shoulder and twirled a strand of his ink-colored hair around his fingers.

A smile tugged at the corners of Renly’s lips. “Everything is going according to plan.” He nuzzled the side of Loras’s head and kissed his cheek. “The Lannisters should fall soon. Already there’s talk of pulling an election. No one wants such horrid people in charge, apparently. Such a shock. It’s not like the people liked those blonde cunts anyhow -- just their money, and it’s likely the city government will be able to confiscate most of that because most of it’s illegally obtained.” And like that, the smirk had returned to his face. Loras just gave him a proud look, a matching smirk.

“I love you,” he whispered a moment later. He didn’t say that he knew Renly would get the Prime Ministership or that he was proud or that he was glad the plans were working; Renly knew that he thought that anyway, and that made him happy. Loras truly was his rock, the one person he knew cared beyond all else, when all his life everyone left and his position in the family had always been subject to question.

“I know,” Renly whispered back, his smirk softening into a smile the way only Loras could make it. “Love you, too.”

_“You can't bring me down_

_Already had my life turned upside down_

_I ride a downward spiral round and round.”_

The song echoed across Renly’s office and emanated from his pocket. He pulled out his phone and glared at it. “Shit, it’s my brother,” he told Loras as if it hadn’t been obvious, who just rolled his eyes. Finally, as the last set of “ _You won’t ever bring me down_ ”s began, Renly answered the call, ending the song.

“Robert,” he growled, and for the first time since he was fifteen and getting disowned for who he was, he let the loathing he felt for his eldest brother creep into his voice. “What is it?” Half of him wanted to smirk at the trouble he had clearly caused his brother, but the other half found that some of his joy was ruined just by his brother’s voice.

“Renly,” Robert practically shouted from the other end, and the call’s recipient moved the phone back slightly from his ear. He sucked in a deep breath. This was the bogeyman, but this nightmare was losing its power. _Just a few more hours, and he loses his power over you forever._

“What is it? Unhappy I’m winning? That I was so good at having you fooled?” He smirked, but the expression was hollow as he heard the rasps of his brother’s breath against his ear through his phone.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Renly,” Robert hissed. The fury wasn’t just audible in his voice; the fury was his voice. “Stannis is insisting that I come to some sort of peace with you, so tonight near the Bitterbridge at nine.”

Renly’s nostrils flared. “I never cursed much, _brother_ , but fuck. NO. I gave you your chance and you said no. But you made my life a misery for twenty-one years. Perhaps you should have thought before then.” He removed the phone from his ear and hung up.

“What’d he want?” Loras asked, but something in his face told Renly that he already knew. Renly sighed and ran a hand through his already messy black hair. Renly smiled tightly and twined his fingers with Loras, something he always did when he needed advice and comfort -- though they both knew Loras was generally much more qualified for the latter.

“To talk and ‘work things out’ and that lot,” Renly grumbled, worrying his lover’s hand with his thumb.

“You going to accept?” Loras asked, his face so carefully blank that even Renly could not read it.

“Yes. No. I don’t know!” Renly said, flopping his head back. “I feel like I should, but not a single bone in my body wants to go. I want to be done with them.” He sighed heavily. “Let’s just go home, luv.”

“Sure thing, babe,” Loras whispered, helping Renly to his feet.

♠ ♠ ♠

Renly paced up and down the sidewalk next to the bridge, not entirely sure if he should be there or not. He felt he could see the path he had worn glaring at him, but the more rational side of him wondered what he was even doing here. He’d given his brother -- nay, brothers -- more chances than he deserved, yet here he stood, a large part of himself hated it. He knew that there was every chance that this would ruin his day, but his gang had one. Every plan they had laid was being acted out, and there was literally no way that the could be stopped now. They weren’t ruthless like Stannis or ruddy-faced drunks like Robert; they were all people who had been slighted by the world and Lannisters a few too many times and willing to do so much to finally have their revenge.

Renly took a deep breath and stepped onto the bridge. Once he was on, he couldn’t stop walking towards the center and staring at the city on either side of the River Mander. He wished Loras were here now. He could do with his support right about now, even if he would probably have shouted at or gotten in a fight with one of Renly’s brothers.

He thought he heard footsteps, so he turned toward the bridge itself to check. He thought for a second that he may have seen a hooded figure, quiet as a shadow, but when he didn’t see it again, he figured that it must have been a trick of the light.

That theory was foiled when a second later, there was a loud thump, pain, and then darkness as his legs crumpled beneath him and he fell into unconsciousness.

Renly had no idea how much time had passed by the time he had woken, but still, bleary-eyed, he glanced around the room. Even through the foggy expanse of his mind, he knew this was the Baratheon manner’s cellar. He grimaced. It would take Loras a while to find him here, but Loras would find him eventually, he knew. Loras always had.

Renly sighed, blinking a couple of times to clear his mind. The room came into a better focus, and Renly could clearly see his eldest brother -- and hear him shouting, but Renly, who had never been a masochist, quickly tuned him out -- and his middle brother shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably and grinding his jaw.

Renly then noticed what Robert was carrying -- his favored machine gun from his own days fighting the government to crawl his way into power. Renly was torn between shutting his eyes to brace for the pain and death and widening his eyes in utter shock and terror. Just before a blow came -- from Robert’s meaty hand or the butt of the gun he didn’t know -- he chose the first option.

Renly tried to bite his lip to keep from crying out, but that couldn’t stop a squeak of pain from passing his lips. The blows kept coming, and Renly felt his body was on fire, screaming for help, and the iron-y taste of blood flooded his mouth. Renly nearly gagged. There was a sharp blow to his stomach, then his back, his arm, his -- there were too many for him to keep track, and the pain threatened to overwhelm him. Vomit rose and his throat, and he couldn’t quite swallow it back down, but even he was too far gone to care that it had gotten on his shirt. Blood roared in his ears, and even without going unconsciousness, he was oblivious to most everything except the pain. The pain, he’d later think, was the truth of his older brother.

Then he heard the distinctive click of a gun’s trigger being pulled. He screwed his eyes shut even tighter as if that could stop the inevitable pain and bullet.

But then the bullet didn't come. He thought he heard shouts, but with the agony as fire in his blood, he could not be sure. He couldn't find it in him to care, not when the blackness was coming for him. He struggled for breath, each inhale the knife being thrust in and each exhale the knife being twisted.

The darkness that threatened him swam in his vision and ached in his bones. And then he could hear nothing, see nothing, and most mercifully, feel nothing as darkness overwhelmed him.

♠ ♠ ♠

Renly awoke, and everything in his body was in agony. He groaned, rolling his head to the side as if he can block out the light that was suddenly bombarding his eyes. A hand trailed down his jaw, and Renly could tell that it was Loras. He inhaled, and he could smell the cologne, mixed with sweat and citrus, a smell so very Loras that it made Renly instantly relax.

As Loras stroked Renly’s jaw softly, Renly managed, “How?” He tried to open his eyes, but the light made him shut them almost instantly. He tried again, though, groaning as he blinked again and again. Finally, he could see, and honestly, Loras’s hazel eyes made it all worth it. A small smile formed on his lips.

Loras smiled down at him, worrying his lower lip. “Stannis stopped Robert and called me,” he whispered after a short pause. Renly’s eyes widened. _Stannis had helped him?_ Renly could scarcely believe that. Stannis had resented him for years since Robert had always preferred his less loyal brother, and Stannis had always followed Robert’s lead when it came to Renly. He’d treated Renly like a piece of shit he’d found in his boots for years, but then he saved Renly.

A small piece of guilt formed in his stomach, but only a small bit. He sighed and tried to push himself upright, though that only made him wince and fall back to the bed. “And how’s it going with everything?”

“You’ll be the Prime Minister yet,” Loras answered, leaning down until the tip of his nose was just brushing Renly’s. “The Lannisters have lost everything -- power, gold, acclaim, popularity. Serves those insufferable cunts right.” Renly nodded, a smile forming on his visage. “You will make a wonderful Prime Minister, Renly, because you do care, and you know what it’s like to be in this shithole of a world and struggle far more than the others. You deserve this position more than anyone else.”

Renly fully smiled and let out a breath. _Had he been worried?_ he wondered. Until Robert had beaten him up, what he’d been was smug -- intolerably so, most likely. But that could not be, not with whatever bruises and other wounds he still had. He frowned. “How do I look?”

“Like a king,” Loras said, laughing. “But Renly, I am serious. Besides, your brothers were evil shits that had their fall coming. You shouldn’t feel guilty about it, babe.”

Renly felt tears nearly well in his eyes. “They were still my brothers even through everything.”

“Babe,” Loras snapped, irritation now very evident in his tone, “they weren’t your brothers. They never were your brothers. _They_ don’t deserve _you_. I love you. Storm’s End loves you. You don’t need them, you already have a family.” Pain be damned, Renly pulled Loras into a kiss. Everything that Loras said rang true, and indeed, before Robert had beaten him, he had been so sure of every word of that, and he could be so again, he knew. He just had to wait.

♠ ♠ ♠

Renly turned from the balcony, his hands shaking. A month he had been in power, and already, the people loved him. That made him a happy man. No one had liked his brother or the mad Prime Minister before him. _He was better than they_ , he told himself, and he was. He took a breath, and a grin formed on his face.

A month it had been without his brothers, and for all he didn’t talk to them, they made no more attempts on him. It was good to be rid of them. There was a lingering part of him that wished he could have found a better way to be rid of them, but he found that it was the end goal, the fact they were gone, that was more important to him.

But sometimes, in the dark when he was all alone, or even in cabinet meetings or anywhere else, his smile was forced. Though he told himself he didn’t need them, sometimes, he felt that they still controlled him, that he didn’t know what to do without the threat of them.

But most times, he knew that Loras had been right. He didn’t need his brothers, and they weren’t his family. Storm’s End was, and that had remained true too. They still hung out on a regular basis, and Renly had handed ownership over to his niece, Mya, who had been thrilled. But more importantly, Loras was his family.

Loras smiled at Renly as he walked inside. “Lovely speech,” he purred, eyes dark, and Renly just rolled his eyes. “But frankly, you look so ravishing in that suit that I didn’t pay a lick of attention to the speech.” Renly laughed, but let his lover pull him into a searing kiss.

He wasn’t always happy, and he wasn’t always fine, but he would be because he had Loras, and that was truly all he needed.

This would be his victory.

**Author's Note:**

> {1} Firstly, thank you all so much for reading!
> 
> {2} Robert's ringtone on Renly's phone is "Hater" by Korn.
> 
> {3} Comments and all are more than welcome, thanks!
> 
> {4} I'll take prompts.
>
>> A Virto Musae  
> By the Virtue of the Muse


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